Indian Students Protesting outside Parliament, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

When Hetq Online contributor Hasmik Hovhannisyan and I met to discuss a first collaboration on a project of interest to both of us — Indians in Armenia — I don’t think that neither of us supposed that we’d be at a demonstration outside the Armenian National Assembly a month later. Indeed, it was probably as much a shock to Hasmik when she demonstration as is it was to me upon returning from Berd to find Garo (AKA Christian Garbis) from Notes from Hairenik icq-ing me the news.

The Artyom Reader has more on the circumstances behind the students death, as does RFE/RL. However, what has prompted this protest is the inefficiency of the Armenian emergency services, the beahviour of the police, and the attitude of Yerevan State Medical University’s Rector to all of these events. As a result, Hetq Online today published Hasmik’s report on yesterday’s demonstration by Indian students three days ahead of deadline.

I happened upon a huge crowd of Indian students walking up the Baghramyan Street. I thought it was one of their national holidays; they are always accompanied by processions and music. Well, I thought, the procession would be a great part of a new project, Indians in Armenia, that Hetq photographer Onnik Krikorian and I have launched recently.

But as soon as I approached, it became clear that the crowd gathering at the National Assembly building was not celebrating a festival at all; it looked more like a demonstration.

“What’s the gathering about?” I asked one of the students, expecting to hear some common Armenian university problem. ]

[…]

[…] a third year student at the Medical University, 21- year-old Prashant Anchalia fell out of a sixth floor window in Building #7 of the Zeytun Student Dormitory. How and why he fell are not yet clear. The students who rushed to him found him lying on the ground covered with blood, screaming in pain. They called an ambulance and their dean’s office.

Dean Anna Sarkisyan arrived fifteen minutes later. Although she is a doctor, she made no attempt to provide emergency aid to the student, and even forbade the other students to touch him or take him to hospital in a taxi, rather than wait for the ambulance, which was slow to arrive. Instead, she ordered them to wait for the police to get there.

The Police arrived and took some witnesses to the Kanaker Police Station for questioning.

The ambulance arrived some 45-50 minutes after the call. According to the students, it was in very poor condition and had no medical equipment, not even an oxygen mask.

On the way to the hospital, Prashant Anchalia died.

The students went to the Medical University and asked to meet with the rector, seeking an explanation for why their friend had been treated so negligently. The response of the newly- appointed rector, Gohar Kialyan, came as a shock. Out of the blue, she referred to Indian girls as prostitutes, and showed the students the middle fingers of both her hands, a gesture whose meaning is well known to even five-year old kids.

And this goes to the heart of the matter, I think. That the ambulance service was late is bad enough, but the arrogance and disregard for someone’s life is outrageous. The attitude of the police and others passing by is just the icing on the cake. In a nutshell, it sums up everything that is wrong with Armenia.

Several hundred students marched to the National Assembly, shouting, “Help, President!” and “We Want Justice!” They were immediately surrounded by the police, who forbade the students to move to the Presidential Palace, faces frozen in dumb indifference.

“Man, I was supposed to go get my tooth fixed today,” one of them yawned, as he glanced significantly at the pavement. All the police cared about was not letting the people cross the line between the pavement and the street. I tried to find compassion in anybody’s eyes, but in vain.

“What you want exactly? Tell me,” said a policeman, apparently of some high rank, not even bothering to wipe the ironical expression off his face.

“We demand that the rector resign.”

“Justice.”

“Let them act like human beings, not like nationalists.”

“If it had been an Armenian lying there, would he have been treated the same way?”

I heard it from all sides. They would ask and answer this question a hundred times within several hours, to the politicians who appeared from time to time, to the journalists, among whom there was no one from the National TV.

As sad as it sounds, others were sympathetic, but realistic in Armenian terms at least. On the other hand, the Indian students were impressive and I hope that young Armenians can learn a lesson or two. In my opinion, regardless of what some Armenians might think, I reckon that the Indians can force the Rector to resign. It will be even sooner if Armenians come out in support rather than remain stuck with the mentality of vochinch.

An elderly passer-by read their posters, which said in Armenian, “We do not need her apology, we need justice!” “Shame on the rector!” “The rector must resign!” Learning the story behind them, she said, “My dears, what you are doing makes no sense. She won’t go—don’t you know who her husband is?”

A young man shrugged his shoulders and said, “Guys, this kind of thing happens all the time. You’re not going to accomplish anything.”

[…]

Red berets appeared at the building of the Parliament, surrounding the crowd that was already surrounded by the police. As if the Indian students there were dangerous criminals.

A man in civilian clothes standing with the police looked at the crowd with frank surprise and asked, “There are more than a billion of them now, right? What they are fighting for, one more, one less?”

The one cause for optimism in the whole situation was that there were also few compassionate Armenians there – two young girls, two students from YSU who were with the Indians all that time and an old woman who, when she heard story, knelt down to the Indian girls, hugged them, and began to cry.

Hasmik’s full article can be read in English here, and in Armenian here.

Incidently Hasmik, great article. A pity that the first in our project had to be to cover such a distressing event, but one that is symbolic of many of the issues that need to be addressed in Armenia. Unfortunately, apart from Garo at Notes from Hairenik and Artyom at iArarat.com, the Armenian blogosphere remains silent which perhaps indicates that the issues are not just internal to Armenia. They also extend to most of the Diaspora.

Indian Students Protesting outside Parliament, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006